Another EOG Clarks Creek Well Has Been Added To Monster List Of Wells

See first comment below: This is a lower bench Three Forks well. There is an extreme structure in that area due to a fault, making some of the wells very prolific.

Another EOG Clarks Creek well has been added to the monster list of wells:

• 20513, 2,365, EOG, Riverview 3-3130H, Clarks Creek, 49 stages; 9.8 million lbs, all sand; middle Bakken, seam about 40 feet thick; t3/13; cum 354K 2/14;

In less than a year this well has produced more than 350,000 bbls of crude oil; it continues to produce almost 20,000 bbls of crude oil per month (at $90/bbl = $1.8 million/month; at $75/bbl = $1.5 million/month). Some say these wells are costing $7 to $8 million to drill/complete.

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	2-2014	28	16828	17064	5260	50446	47542	2775
BAKKEN	1-2014	30	19743	19554	5198	34506	34364	0
BAKKEN	12-2013	31	21971	22236	5557	47038	30379	16535
BAKKEN	11-2013	30	30702	31045	7269	58384	21412	36827
BAKKEN	10-2013	9	9621	8704	2509	20607	6220	14353
BAKKEN	9-2013	20	20510	21220	6022	5136	5051	0
BAKKEN	8-2013	31	33864	33814	7706	67755	75	67525
BAKKEN	7-2013	31	40557	40445	9270	75961	8	75798
BAKKEN	6-2013	30	43363	43877	9210	75694	1401	74143
BAKKEN	5-2013	21	35233	35626	6383	48700	2206	46396
BAKKEN	4-2013	30	37944	37326	10021	63250	0	63100
BAKKEN	3-2013	24	43290	42129	19820	16951	0	16836

Baker Hughes To Disclose Fracking Components; Halliburton Studying Baker Hughes' Decision

Rigzone is reporting:

The U.S. Department of Energy said Friday that it welcomes the decision by oil and gas industry supplier Baker Hughes to disclose all chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluid.

But Halliburton, a major competitor in the field, isn't committing to such disclosure.

Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary Paula Gant said that Baker Hughes' move "is an important step in building public confidence" and the department "hopes others will follow their lead."

The oil and gas industry has said the fracking chemicals are disclosed at tens of thousands of wells, but environmental and health groups and government regulators decry a loophole that allows companies to hide chemical "trade secrets."

Houston-based Halliburton said Friday that it's studying the move by Baker Hughes, which is also based in that city. Halliburton said it had an interest in protecting "our intellectual property and the substantial investment it represents" and will examine the new Baker Hughes format for its ability to protect such investments.

Baker Hughes said it now believes it's possible to disclose 100 percent "of the chemical ingredients we use in hydraulic fracturing fluids without compromising our formulations," to increase public trust.

Fodder for activists. 

Hope Springs Eternal

Reuters via Rigzone is reporting that Canada still bets that the US approves the Keystone:

Canada remains confident Washington will ultimately approve the Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast, two prominent cabinet ministers said on Friday, adding that the latest U.S. delay is political and not based on environmental concerns.

In his first public remarks on the controversial project, the country's new energy minister, Greg Rickford, said he hoped the Obama administration will "depoliticize" its decision on Keystone XL and give it the green light.

"On the Keystone, we're still very hopeful ... that this will go ahead sooner rather than later, and it will simply add to the economic benefits of pipeline transmission of energy products," Rickford told reporters after a speech in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga on Friday.

"Obviously we hope sooner rather than later that this is depoliticized, if you will, and that the communities along the pipeline, which include Canada and the United States, can reap the tremendous economic benefits of Keystone," he said. 

This must have been an extremely slow news day over at Reuters. 

"The sooner the better"? It's been six years.


Does anything else need to be said?

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Oil Firms Bringing In The Big Guns To Extend The Life Of The North Sea Oil Fields

Reuters via Rigzone is also reporting:

Smaller oil producers are teaming up with engineering and oil services companies in Britain's North Sea to squeeze extra drops from aging facilities before rising costs force them to close.

Improving "wrench time" - hours spent at work sites rather than on assessments and form-filling - and bringing in specialist teams to boost recovery rates, will help prevent early decommissioning, industry participants say. Oil services companies are competing to take on "late life" asset work, providing the expertise that smaller producers lack. 

Peak Oil, anyone?

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Brazil Looking To Chinese For More Investing

Reuters via Rigzone is reporting:

China might be slowing economically but it still wants to buy more oil from Latin America and invest in infrastructure in the region, with a presidential visit planned for July, Chinese and Brazilians officials said on Friday.

As host of the 2014 soccer World Cup, Brazil is hoping Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is known to be a fan of the sport, will attend the final game on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro's legendary Maracaná stadium.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently said Brazil's partners in the BRICS group of leading emerging nations asked for the summit that she will host be rescheduled for two days after the World Cup so their leaders could attend. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a one-day visit to Brasilia on a Latin American swing, did not confirm Xi would accept Brazil's invitation to attend the World Cup final.

Wang reinforced China's interest in setting up a fund to increase investment in infrastructure that is lacking in Latin America, where China gets much of its raw materials, such as iron ore, oil and soy beans.

Electricity Rates May Be Going Up For Good; So, How's That Renewable Energy Working Out?

I posted this story earlier, without the link. It was the top story in the Los Angeles Times today. The story is now going viral as they say. Here it is, being re-reported in Chicago Tribune. For all I know this is where it was originally published. Machts nichts. The mainstream press is reporting:

As temperatures plunged to 16 below zero in Chicago in early January and set record lows across the eastern U.S., electrical system managers implored the public to turn off stoves, dryers and even lights or risk blackouts.

A fifth of all power-generating capacity in a grid serving 60 million people went suddenly offline, as coal piles froze, sensitive electrical equipment went haywire and utility operators had trouble finding enough natural gas to keep power plants running.

The wholesale price of electricity skyrocketed to nearly $2 per kilowatt hour, more than 40 times the normal rate. The price hikes cascaded quickly down to consumers. Robert Thompson, who lives in the suburbs of Allentown, PA, got a $1,250 bill for January.

The bill was reduced to about $750 after Thompson complained, but Susan Martucci, a part-time administrative assistant in Allentown, got no relief on her $654 charge. "It was ridiculous," she said.

The electrical system's duress was a direct result of the polar vortex, the cold air mass that settled over the nation. But it exposed a more fundamental problem. There is a growing fragility in the U.S. electricity system, experts warn, the result of the shutdown of coal-fired plants, reductions in nuclear power, a shift to more expensive renewable energy and natural gas pipeline constraints. The result is likely to be future price shocks. And they may not be temporary.

One recent study predicts the cost of electricity in California alone could jump 47% over the next 16 years, in part because of the state's shift toward more expensive renewable energy.

"Consumers switch to renewable energy." And there it is, in black-and-white: all those naysayers who keep telling us wind is free and solar is free and even if they aren't, they are less expensive than fossil fuels, and even if it won't make a difference because China is building a new coal-fired plant, on average, every day, if it makes us feel good, we should switch to solar.   

But if you don't mind $1,200-monthly utility bills, renewable energy will be just fine. If nothing else, it will make you feel good.

Seriously, I find it interesting the mainstream media is starting to report what regular readers knew all along.

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Global Warming Climate Change Extreme Weather Global Cooling IceAgeNow  Whatever

Russian Urals experiencing worst spring snowstorm in 123 years.

A Little Something For Dickinson

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

A Singapore-based investment company has set its sights on Dickinson for its next project, a high-end, 280-acre residential and retail development slated for construction in 2015.

Barons Group of Companies released conceptual plans earlier this week for Barons Vista, billed as a “retail garden mall and community lifestyle development” on the south side of Interstate 94 Exit 59. It would be situated between the Dickinson Hills Shopping Center and West Ridge developments.

The ambitious design includes up to 700 housing units, an indoor mall, hotel, amphitheatre, a family friendly park and a 15-story tower to act as a “lighthouse to travelers arriving in Dickinson,” which, once completed, would be tallest building in North Dakota.

The only thing missing would be putting the Obama Presidential Library here. 

I particularly like the "family friendly park" as opposed to a "family unfriendly park."

It will be interesting to see if the city approves the concept. LOL. A "lighthouse" beaconing and beaconing" Americans to visit the Bakken is exactly what the city needs. LOL.

Be sure to visit the link to see the artist's drawing of the proposed "lighthouse."

I'm not sure what tag to use to track this story. Staggering?

Later in the story:

He said the company might continue building around the area, with talks of a hotel-adjacent restaurant and convenience store.

I'm thinking maybe in Grassy Butte, north of Belfield.

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Afternoon Tea

Lemon poppy bread and honey from the Grapevine (Texas) Farmers' Market. Rose tea -- one of the best teas I've ever had -- from the Grapevine Tea and Spice Exchange on Main Street. The chocolate cake? Olivia won it at "playing" the "Cake Walk" at their school's "Spring Fling" last night.